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As part of the WSA European Young Innovators Festival 60+ students from 2 different FHs in Austria (FH Campus 02 & FH Joanneum) collaborated in teams to analyse 14 WSA European Young Innovators ventures 2021.

The students applied themselves and their skills to compile and present business analyses of the recent European Young Innovators Winners.

Information about their case-studies was retrieved from the Innovation Pitches where the Winners presented their own projects in 3-minute-pitches and answered questions from the Festival Jury. To gain insights and to dig deep, the student teams met the young entrepreneurs whose companies they were assigned to analyse. Applying their theoretical knowledge gained from their studies on real ventures, meeting the entrepreneurs in person (online) and discussing the case study with them, was a thrilling experience for the young academics.

Just as their respective entrepreneurs did the days before, the students pitched their work in only 3 minutes to an international Jury of experts.

Watch the Pitch Event here, using wsa as a password.

The entrepreneurs were excited to see the new ideas and interdisciplinary as well as multi-national approaches to their own businesses. The jury praised the quality of work given the short time frame.

All teams presented great work, but in the end the following teams stood out and were selected by the jury as this year´s WSA Youth for Innovation Graz winners:

Ondrej Holly, Hannah Maria Holzinger, Vanessa Jessica Kühl, Laurenz Mörth, Laura Soldo - FH Joanneum, Austria

Tobias Boh, Jennifer Harrer, Sandra Marie Kleewein, Julia Kreinecker, Simon Franz Rothschedl - FH Joanneum, Austria

Paul Karl Salzmann, Andreas Simon Hofmann, Verena Vukovich, Maximilian Prasser - FH Campus 02, Austria

Daniel Ebner, Julia Faustmann, Viktoria Janicinova, Thi Thanh Tam Nguyen, Annija Petersone - FH Joanneum, Austria

All winners received a digital participation certificate and promotion through the WSA communication channels.

For six weeks, 44 students from 8 participating Universities have addressed 7 entrepreneurial business challenges, hosted by former WSA Winners. The real-life challenges of the purpose-driven tech ventures ranged from business development to marketing strategies, with the goal for the students to engage in collaboration to find the best solutions.

The WSA Youth for Innovation program enabled the students to apply their skills and knowledges on real ventures, collaborate internationally and interdisciplinary to gain intercultural competences and provided a series of webinars, held by international business experts, ranging from of business development topics such as community building, UN SDGs, innovation to pitching.

Grouped on their expertise and where they felt they could best contribute towards a specific challenge, the student teams worked together with the WSA entrepreneurs, and were guided by experienced academia student team leads, supporting and mentoring them in their solution development.

In the final phase, the student teams presented their solution to a jury, gaining hands-on experience on pitching a business solution to international experts.

After an interesting pitching session, the jury selected the best student teams as winners, based on a selection of criteria including the presentation of the pitch and the quality of the solution.

All teams presented great work, but in the end the following 3 teams stood out and were selected by the jury as this year´s WSA Youth for Innovation winners:

Students working on the challenge of Baahdy & Birdy:

Dushko Petrovski - University of Skopje, North Macedonia

Melisa Muhovic - University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Gitta Nyolczas - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

Dorottya Márkus - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

Ovini Hewage - World University Friends, Sri Lanka

Aleksandar Jovanovski - University of Skopje, North Macedonia

Challenge Host: Linda Skipnes Strand - Baahdy & Birdy, Norway

Student Team Lead: Attila Horányi - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

Students working on the challenge of ClickMedix:

Manjith Kumar Reddy Sirigireddy - Politecnico Di Milano, Italy

Alexander Liu - Fachhochschule Kiel, Germany

Nadun Pabasara - Saegis Campus, Sri Lanka

Heshan Malinda - Saegis Campus, Sri Lanka

Student Team Lead: Franziska Uhing - Fachhochschule Kiel, Germany

Students working on the challenge of Leaf Global Fintech:

Dante Nicklin - Salzburg College, Austria

Himesha Kavinda - Saegis Campus, Sri Lanka

Maximilian Pentzlin - Fachhochschule Kiel, Germany

Pasasna Amarasinghe - World University Friends, Sri Lanka

Dorottya Novák - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

All winners will receive a digital participation certificate, promotion through the WSA communication channels and their CV’s to be sent to the WSA network along with a recommendation letter from WSA.

Around 120 students from 6 different Universities located in 5 European countries collaborated to analyse the sixteen WSA European Young Innovators projects 2020.

In teams, they applied themselves and their skills to compile and present business analyses of the recent European Young Innovators Winners.

The student teams were formed during the European Young Innovators Festival. Information about their case-studies could be retrieved from the Innovation Pitches where the Winners presented their own projects in 3-minute-pitches and answered questions from the Festival Jury. To gain insights and to dig deep, the student teams met the young entrepreneurs whose companies they were assigned to analyse. Applying their theoretical knowledge gained from their studies on real ventures, meeting the entrepreneurs in person (online) and discussing the case study with them, was a thrilling experience for the young academics.

It is a completely different challenge to write a theoretical exposition or to present your work in a short pitch to a jury. The European Young Innovators Festival offered a very diverse program including many experienced coaches and also capacity building workshops to choose from. But on the third day, the Youth for Innovation Pitches themselves were on the agenda.

Just as their respective entrepreneurs did the days before, the students pitched their work in only 3 minutes to an international Jury of experts. Members of the YFI Jury were:

The entrepreneurs were excited to see the new ideas and interdisciplinary as well as multi-national approaches to their own businesses. The jury was excited about the quality of work given the short time frame. And the academic professors found inspiration at the Festival and guided their students through international and virtual collaboration.

All teams presented great work, but in the end the following teams stood out and were selected by the jury as this year´s WSA Youth for Innovation winners:

Student teams working on the venture Plant-for-the-Planet:

Lach Christian - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Ravnik Jürgen - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Schantl Martin Valentin - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Schreiner Matthias - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Stopper Christian - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Zuschnegg Michael - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Karla Reister - FH Kiel, Germany

Maike Tachil - FH Kiel, Germany

Adelina Mehmed - University St. Cyril and Methodius - Faculty of Economics Skopje, North Macedonia

Aaron Klenk - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Students working on the venture Eevie:

Idil Fatos Cobanoglu - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Charlotte Nabinger - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Lara Weitgasser - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Simon Willberger - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Students working on the venture Future Heros:

Daniel Drack - FH Campus 02 (Innovation Management), Austria

Christina Kritz - FH Campus 02 (Innovation Management), Austria

Christoph Recher - FH Campus 02 (Innovation Management), Austria

Thomas Reitbauer - FH Campus 02 (Innovation Management), Austria

Kerstin Riedl - FH Campus 02 (Innovation Management), Austria

Students working on the venture Agro Serv:

Ortbauer Florian - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Saurer Markus - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Schweiger Marco - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Stöckl Dominik - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Wagner Matthias Nicolas - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Weihs Philipp - FH Campus 02 (IT & business informatics), Austria

Students working on the venture AirCare:

Hansjuerg Michel - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Kristina Stojanovska - University St. Cyril and Methodius - Faculty of Economics Skopje, North Macedonia

Richard Moser - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Pia Mering - FH Kiel, Germany

Students working on the venture XVision:

Chantal Baumgartner - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Niklas Bauer - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Monika Kadjibanova - University St. Cyril and Methodius - Faculty of Economics Skopje, North Macedonia

Henri Meskus - Laurea University of Applied Science, Finnland

Students working on the venture Augmented Reality for Tourism:

Leon Bader - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Bojan Ivanusa - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Balint Kiendler - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Melanie Krainer - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Andrea Schachl - FH Joanneum (International Management), Austria

Students working on the venture Educraft:

Malin Lauffer - FH Kiel, Germany

Santiago Lobo - Laurea University of Applied Science, Finnland

Angela Saltamarska - University St. Cyril and Methodius - Faculty of Economics Skopje, North Macedonia

Tobias Enke - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Students working on the venture LevelUp:

Janine Engelhardt - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Sophia Wiggenhorn - FH Kiel, Germany

Viktor Salazar - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Maike Keller - FH Kiel, Germany

For six weeks, 41 students from 6 participating Universities have addressed 8 entrepreneurial business challenges, hosted by former WSA Winners. The real-life challenges of the WSA entrepreneurs ranged from business development to marketing strategies, with the goal for the students to engage in collaboration to find the best solutions.

The WSA Youth for Innovation program supports the students not only with a series of webinars, held by international business experts, ranging from of business development topics such as community building, UN SDGs, impact thinking & impact measurement to pitching, the students also gained the unique opportunity to enter the global WSA network.

Grouped on their expertise and where they felt they could best contribute towards a specific challenge, the student teams worked closely with the WSA entrepreneurs, and were guided by experienced academia student team leads, supporting and mentoring them in their solution development.

In the final phase the student teams are presenting their solution to a jury, gaining hands-on experience on pitching a business solution to international experts.

After an interesting pitching session, the jury had the hard task to select the best student teams as winners, based on a selection of criteria including the presentation of the pitch and the quality of the solution.

All teams presented great work, but in the end the following 3 teams stood out and were selected by the jury as this year´s WSA Youth for Innovation winners:

Students working on the challenge of The Museum of Yesterday

Pia Mering and Maike Tachil - Fachhochschule Kiel, Germany

Tim Shanahan - Salzburg College, Austria

Vuk Ilić - MEF Faculty Belgrade, Serbia

Hansjuerg Michel - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business

Challenge Host: Babak Fakhamzadeh - Agëncia Pública, The Museum of Yesterday, Brazil

Student Team Lead: Mason Wirtz - Salzburg College, Austria

Students working on the challenge of MedShr

Henrike Barg and Lea Jungsthöfel - Fachhochschule Kiel, Germany

Eetu Kemppainen - Laura, Finnland

Maurus Basler and Richard Moser - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business

Challenge Host: Janis Pereira - MedShr, UK

Student Team Lead: Lynn Lim - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business

Students working on the challenge of ScarletRed

Nikola Bajic - MEF Faculty Belgrade, Serbia

Adelina Mehmed - Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, North Macedonia

Chantal Baumgartner and Niklas Bauer - FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business

Challenge Host: Dorotea Neuberg - Scarletred Holding GbmH, Austria

Student Team Lead: Ivana Lešević - MEF Faculty Belgrade, Serbia